Mercedes sobers up Ferrari and Co.

The Silver Arrows were in a league of their own in free practice for the Australian Grand Prix, with Brit Hamilton turning the fastest lap of the day in 1:22,600 minutes. His teammate Valtteri Bottas (Finland/48:1) finished just 22,648 thousandths behind.

After a strong pre-season, Vettel and Ferrari did not confirm the enormous expectations in Melbourne's Albert Park. The German (1:23,473) came in fifth, behind the Red Bull duo: Max Verstappen (Netherlands/1:23,400) and Pierre Gasly (France/1:23,442) took third and fourth place, the gap between them the peak was already around eight tenths of a second.

“There was a lack of trust” Sebastian Vettel “We weren't as fast as we wanted,” said Vettel: “There was a lack of confidence in the car, it doesn't feel the way it should, it doesn't do what I want. We will evaluate it, I know that our car can do much more.” Mercedes was “in a league of its own”. “They are much faster than they recently led us to believe,” said Vettel. “That wasn’t a bad start” Lewis Hamilton Meanwhile, Hamilton also saw “a few things in which we can improve. But that wasn't a bad start. We got through our program very well.”

Vettel's long-time teammate Kimi Räikkönen (1:23,572) made a very good debut for Alfa Romeo in sixth place. The Finn was replaced at Ferrari this season by Charles Leclerc, and the highly rated Monegasse came in ninth (1:23,754) well below expectations on his debut for the Scuderia on Friday. Shortly before the end of the session, Leclerc also spun.

The Renault duo did better with places seven and eight, with Nico Hülkenberg (Germany/1:23,574) ahead of his new team rival Daniel Ricciardo (Australia/1:23,644).

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Mercedes sobers up Ferrari and Co.

World champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team dominated the start of the new Formula 1 season and thus caused disillusionment among the competition around Sebastian Vettel.

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